Here are the business stories making the headlines across Scotland and the UK this morning.
Oil prices rise after US and Iran exchange fire in Hormuz strait
Oil prices rise on Friday in Asia after the US and Iran exchanged fire in the key Strait of Hormuz waterway.
The US military said it intercepted what it called "unprovoked" Iranian attacks - including missiles, drones and small boats - and carried out self‑defence strikes as its ships were heading out of the Gulf through the strait.
In mid-morning trade, global oil benchmark Brent was up by 1.5% at $101.60 (£74.50) a barrel, as it eased back from a gain of more than 2% earlier in the session. US-traded oil was 1.1% higher at $95.87.
Get the full story here.
P&J exclusive: Music festival boss would be ‘super keen’ for event at new Aberdeen Beach park
A music festival boss is “super keen” to bring to life a version of his popular event at Aberdeen’s new beach park.
Andy Macdonald is the brains behind the popular MacMoray bash in Elgin, which has drawn thousands of people to the town since launching in 2022.
This year, the two-day bash held at the beginning of May welcomed 10,000 people each day.
Read the full article on The Press and Journal website.
Scotland ‘likely to face heavy spending cuts this year’
The new Holyrood government will be forced into savage public spending cuts within months after politicians hid a looming financial crisis from voters during the election campaign, economists have warned.
The results of the Scottish parliament elections are expected to become clear by Friday evening, and although polls suggest support for the SNP has declined over recent weeks, John Swinney’s party remains the overwhelming favourite to retain power.
Experts said that all parties had been guilty of failing to fully confront a desperate fiscal situation facing Scotland, with a £5 billion hole by the end of the decade set to be made much worse by the economic implications of the Iran war.
Read more in The Times.
Hantavirus outbreak on cruise ship not start of pandemic, UN health agency says
An outbreak of hantavirus on board a cruise ship is not the start of a pandemic, the UN health agency has said.
Maria van Kerkhove, an infectious disease epidemiologist at the World Health Organization (WHO), told a news briefing that it was not the same situation as six years ago with Covid-19, because hantavirus spreads through "close, intimate contact".
Health authorities are racing to trace dozens of people who have recently disembarked from the Dutch vessel MV Hondius.
Read the full story from the BBC.
Trump gives EU ultimatum deadline to approve trade deal with US
President Donald Trump has threatened "much higher" tariffs on the European Union (EU) by 4 July if the bloc fails to drop its levies on the US to zero.
After a phone call with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Trump said he agreed to give her until "our Country's 250th Birthday or, unfortunately, their Tariffs would immediately jump to much higher levels".
However, von der Leyen said the bloc was making "good progress towards tariff reduction" ahead of Trump's deadline.
Read more on the BBC website.
Aberdeen has largest house price fall in Scotland amid oil and gas uncertainty
Aberdeen has recorded the sharpest drop in house prices anywhere in Scotland as uncertainty over the future of the North Sea oil and gas industry continues to hit the city’s property market.
New figures released by property firm DJ Alexander show average house prices in Aberdeen fell by £7,517 in the past year.
The decline left the average property in the Granite City valued at £128,485, down from £136,003 a year earlier.
Read more in The P&J.
Shipping giant Maersk hit by $500m monthly cost of Middle East war
The shipping container company AP Moller-Maersk is facing a $500 million a month hit from disruption caused by the Iran war, which its chief executive called the “most comprehensive energy shock in our lifetimes”.
The Danish group, which carries about one in five of the world’s seaborne containers, expects costs to rise further over the next two quarters, but it is so far fully offsetting this through price rises.
Vincent Clerc, the chief executive, warned that continued closure of the Strait of Hormuz could lead to wider damage across global trade, as rising costs lead to destruction in demand.
Get the full story in The Times.